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Agglutinant compound and agglutinated product for reconstituting powders of vegetal origin

Agglutinant compound and agglutinated product for reconstituting powders of vegetal origin description/claims

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of vegetal product industrial processes, and more particularly the invention objects to a practical and innovative chemical agglutinant compound for producing laminates from particulate aggregates and vegetal powder originated from tobacco, tea leaves, aromatic herbs, etc., such technology consists of composing a homogeneous mixture of vegetal structures residues rejected as raw material due to its granulometry out of dimensional standards, being larger or smaller than specific values, where the compound of the invention is aggregated with the material described to be laminated and dried so as to form leaves and pellicles with the objective of returning them to industrial process, rationalizing its reuse and providing economy and environmental responsibility.

2. Description of the Prior Art

It is well known in industry operating with vegetal products transformation processes such as tobacco, coffee, tea, mate herb, etc., that such processes release large quantities of residues as powders that in general are rejected. These powders have such granulometry so that industries are not interested therein, since they can not be processed for optimal consumption.

Due to these issues, it would be very convenient to have the possibility of reconstituting such powders so as to reconvert them in products of interest for consumption.

Thus, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an agglutinant compound for reconstituting powders of vegetal origin, such as residual powders resulting from tobacco industry, from mate herb, from tea, from coffee and similar, powders that usually are rejected due to their lack of utility since it is presented as a powder, being said compound characterized by the fact that it comprises:

at least one polymer of hydroxylated organic acids and at least one additive.

It is also another objective of the present invention to provide an agglutinated product for reconstituting these powders of vegetal origin, being said agglutinated product comprised of:

a mixture of said powder of vegetal origin, with at least one polymer of hydroxylated organic acids and with at least one additive.

It is, also, another objective of the present invention to provide an agglutinant compound and agglutinated product for reconstituting powders of vegetal origin, that allows employing a lamination or similar process, being said agglutinated product comprised of agglutinant compound and a vegetal mass formed by the powder of vegetal origin, that may range from 5-50% (mass/mass, regarding the powder mass used), with drying temperature ranging between 100-400° C., thickness between 0.05-2.50 mm and vegetal film humidity between 8 and 20%; being said agglutinant compound formed only by a mixture of polymers of hydroxylated organic acids, such as lactic acid and malic acid, and it may contain agents improving its agglutinant and sensorial properties.

It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a chemical compound to unite vegetal powder particulates, whose granulometry is insufficient for said material to be employed in producing products comprising, e.g., cigarettes, teas and flavored vegetal substrates, in order to produce lamination of vegetal substrates.

It is another objective of the present invention, to present an agglutinant compound for aggregating vegetal powder and particles, with low-cost execution, aggregating reliability and economy requisites, reassuring its utilitarian application, providing the industrial consumer of such input with additional freedom and option of choice in analogous market, offering a number of productive possibilities and benefits, converting it in a specific product of great expectation for this sector.

The present invention relates to an agglutinant compound that may be used for obtaining a pellicle or laminated film of powders of vegetal origin for use in industries such as tobacco, tea and other foods. More specifically, said agglutinant compound is projected for producing tobacco sheets, coffee, cinnamon, clove, mate herb and other vegetal products as powder, allowing the use of a residue that is currently discarded in industries using these materials as leaves or any form other than non-pulverized, and that can not use them as powder.

The agglutinant compound has one polymer of hydroxylated organic acids as basis, more specifically, lactic acid and malic acid, and may have the addition of other additives improving its agglutinant properties and/or providing properties improving both physical and sensorial quality of the vegetal film to be formed. These additives may be hydroxylated organic acids in their monomeric form, amide, non-amylaceous hydrocolloids, sodium chloride, plasticizers, humectants, preservatives and additives, which are mixed with the vegetal powder and then are subjected to a laminating set comprised of two metallic cylindrical rolls that press the vegetal mass to form a leave or sheet of the desired vegetable.

In lamination, the vegetal mass formed by the powder of vegetal origin, agglutinant compound and water, is pressed to obtain a pellicle or film with thickness that may range between 0.05 and 2.50 mm and vegetal final film humidity may range between 8.0 and 20%.

The tobacco pellicle may be formed from tobacco powders of several origins, like those obtained as cigarette manufacturing by-products, tobacco processing plants, tobacco processing industries, etc., wherein powders from several types of tobacco can be used in the process, such as stems, ‘scraps’, ‘winnovers’ or ‘winnowings’, tobacco residues in general, tobacco pellicles of any type/class, etc.

Tests performed with wastes as powders from tobacco industry showed the viability of the present compound. The introduction of flavors or flavor or taste improvers has called companies' attention, since through this invention these flavors may be added along with the agglutinant compound, thus allowing a better fixation thereof, if compared with the simple aspersion over the leaves. Thus, organoleptic features superior to original product are obtained.

The agglutinant compound has shown to be effective for obtaining reconstituted products of vegetal origin with physical and sensorial characteristics very close or superior to original product and it can also be considered as a neutral product since it does not provide final product with undesirable characteristics.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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